MARCH IS INTERNATIONAL WORKING WOMEN MONTH

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts Paperback


By Rebecca Hall 


Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake is an imaginative tour de force that tells the “powerful” (The New York Times Book Review) story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall’s efforts to uncover the truth about these women warriors who, until now, have been left out of the historical record.


Women warriors planned and led revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history.


Wake tells the “riveting” (Angela Y. Davis) story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told her that enslaved women took a back seat. But Rebecca decides to look deeper, and her journey takes her through old court records, slave ship captain’s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women from the “negro burying ground” uncovered in Manhattan. She finds women warriors everywhere.


Using a “remarkable blend of passion and fact, action and reflection” (NPR), Rebecca constructs the likely pasts of Adono and Alele, women rebels who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. We also follow Rebecca’s own story as the legacy of slavery shapes her life, both during her time as a successful attorney and later as a historian seeking the past that haunts her.


Illustrated beautifully in black and white, Wake will take its place alongside classics of the graphic novel genre, like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. This story of a personal and national legacy is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.

Black youth and Durham high school students plead with N.C. state house representatives for action to combat gun violence


NC Policy Watch

By Greg Childress


“Thoughts and prayers” are no longer enough to protect children from gun violence, says Durham Hillside High School Principal William Logan.


Gun violence proliferates, Logan said, because guns are too readily available, and lawmakers are unwilling to pass meaningful gun control laws.


“We can continue to send thoughts and prayers every time this happens and lament over the loss of any life, not just the life of a student, or we can make tough decisions and do what we need to do to get control of people who aren’t supposed to have guns in our community,” Logan said in a recent interview with Policy Watch.


“I don’t know if I’m going to be here from one day to the next”


The “this” that the soft-spoken, but stern school leader referred to is the senseless death of a 17-year-old Hillside High student who was shot and killed on the American Tobacco Trail near the high school on Feb. 8. A 15-year-old was also shot and wounded during the attack but is expected to recover.


It has been a particularly tough couple of weeks for Logan and the Hillside family. The death of the 17-year-old unnamed student hit the campus hard. Students met with counselors virtually last week during what Logan described as a “wellness day.” Teachers met with the counselors and therapists face-to-face.


A shining light amid the darkness that always comes when a young life is taken has been Hillside’s drama students and dance company. The students have given several performances of an original play titled “State of Urgency” which takes on gun violence, police brutality, racism discrimination, poverty, and other social ills.


The play was well received Friday when it opened before an engaged audience of several hundred people that included lawmakers and local elected officials with the authority to make the kind of changes that the young performers demanded.


Qiyamah Hart, a Hillside senior and actor, said state officials and school leaders must work to make schools safe spaces for students.


“We witness this [violence, racism, social injustice] on a day-to-day basis and that is not normal,” Hart said shortly after Friday’s performance. “We normalize things that shouldn’t be normal. We normalize bringing guns to school, we normalize fighting, we normalize the wrong things in life.”


This month’s shooting death of a fellow senior “broke her heart,” Hart said.


“His parents had to bury him yesterday [Feb. 16] and that was sad to see because he won’t get the opportunities that I’ll be getting — or supposed to be getting because I don’t know if I’m going to be here from one day to the next. I’m scared because I don’t know who is bringing a gun to school or who is ready to do what because of their mental instability.” Read more here.

In our Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center effort to engage more of our community organizations like the Raleigh Peoples Budget Coalition, we held a community meeting with City Council representative Christina Jones at the Center. Present Coalition members from UE local 150 Raleigh City Chapt./NC DOT Chapt., Muslims For Social Justice, REfund, Black Workers For Justice, Quality Education Coalition workers meeting to discuss who we are, history and political battlefront work ahead to advance our Coalition Agenda.

March 2023 CALENDAR OF EVENTS


Saturday, March 4; 11:00 AM; Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble rehearsal


Sunday, March 5; National Conference of Black Lawyers NC Chapter sponsors a review and discussion of The Trumpets of Conscious - a book of M.L. King’s last 4 speeches. The event is free and open to the public.


Saturday, March 11; 6:00 PM; Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble performs at the Institute for Southern Studies / Facing South / Southern Exposure’s 50th Anniversary Celebration; at The Story Venue at 450 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC


Sunday, March 12; 3:00-5:00 PM; World Cultural Cinema Celebrating International Working Women’s History Month; Forum/discussion, film: “Chisolm 72 Unbought & Unbossed”, discussion. Free for film & $5 donation for snacks. Call FOLWCC for more information. Please RSVP.


Saturday, March 18; 11:00 AM-12:00 PM; Community Solidarity Gardening Club Plant and Plan; we will meet to continue planning our spring garden and our spring “Gardening by the Bucket & Gardening 101” class. If you are interested in growing your own healthy food and becoming a member you are invited to attend. Please RSVP to Nathanette at nlmayo5@yahoo.com or call (919) 876-7187 to let us know you will be coming!


Saturday, March 18; 12:00 - 1:00 PM; Financial Health Workshop Series - 2nd class. Please RSVP to Angaza at fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com to RSVP.


Saturday, March 18; 1:00 - 4:00 PM; Kicking off our Monthly Cornbread, Fish & Collard Greens Social Justice Fish Fry Fundraiser; Plates $12, sandwiches $7; please RSVP to (919) 876-7187 and order early. Plates go quickly!


Sunday, March 19; 4:00 – 5:00 PM; Black Workers for Justice Women’s Working Group Book Discussion. The group is discussing What’s Love Got to Do With It. A book by Donna Franklin about the relationships between Black men and women. The discussion will take place virtually via zoom and in person at the FOLWCC. Contact Willie at (252) 640-0944 for more information.

Reserve the Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center for your Special Event!



The Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center is the perfect beautiful venue for your special event. Contact us today for information about our very reasonable rates and availability. Call (919) 876-7187, 919-231-2660 or

email Fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com.

AVAILABLE NOW!

Music and songs that inspire, engage, and liberate our spirit!


Enjoy Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble’s Album: State of Emergency


The album is available on

Amazon, Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio 

and many more streaming services and retailers. 

The transition of former Black Panther/former political prisoner/freedom fighter Brother Eddie Marshall Conway


Presente!


Our beloved brother Eddie Marshall Conway has transitioned last month..His fighting spirit is now among our ancestral freedom warriors and within us!


It's with great sadness that I inform you of a wonderful youth organizing mentor and our fellow freedom fighter comrade Bro. Eddie Conway's passing. He transitioned on Tuesday, February 15, 2023. 


He was very active after getting out of prison on FBI CO IN TEL PRO trumped up charges as a Black Panther. Comrade Eddie Conway FOUGHT the good fight to the very end of his life living and organizing in Baltimore. 


The Black Workers For Justice's Cultural Commission was honored to host a 2016-17 community forum and his book signing "The Eddie "Marshal Conway Plan" at the BWFJ's FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER.


Let's fly our BLACK LIBERATION FLAG (OUR red /black/green) extra high!


IN THE HIGHEST REGARDS, 


Elder Brother Angaza Sababu Laughinghouse

Black Workers For Justice

FRUIT OF LABOR VIDEO